Many people go to great lengths to protect their sensitive personal information, and most probably assume their employer is watching out for them, too, but that wasn't the case for thousands of city workers who were part of a large-scale privacy breach.

A man who didn't want to be identified told the 11 News I-Team he was driving by a city training and safety office on Druid Park Drive in northwest Baltimore when he saw a huge pile of furniture and other items that had been put out for trash. He said he thought he could use a cardboard box that was part of the pile for filing.

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"When I got it home, that's when I noticed. I was dumbfounded. It was incredible. I couldn't believe it," the man told I-Team reporter Barry Simms.

Inside the box there were confidential records for thousands of current and former Baltimore City employees, from firefighters to sanitation workers, and all their vital information was there, including their Social Security numbers, birth dates, driver's license information and more.

"I just thought, if nothing else, these people need some type of protection. They at least need to know they're being exposed," the man told Simms.

Jeff Deinlein is one of those current employees. Simms found him on his day off and showed him the paperwork.

"It has my name, and it looks like my driver's license number, my Social Security number -- the full number – and date of birth and an old supervisor," he said after looking at it.

Carl Sedler retired from the city in 1994 after getting injured on the job five years earlier. Simms also showed him paperwork that was found.

The records appear to be training logs dated from 1989-1991, Simms reported, and the information belongs to people who would now be in their mid-40s or older.

"I think it's outrageous that the city lets their -- my -- private information get out on the street like this," Deinlein said.

"Somebody should be reprimanded," Sedler said.

The man who found the box said it wasn't the only file box that was tossed. Another was too heavy to lift, and he said he doesn't know what was in it. The I-Team went by the location where he found them and noticed that only a few items still remained. Simms said the other box was gone.

Jeff Karberg said he couldn't believe his eyes when Simms showed him some of the records that were tossed out. His job at the Attorney General's Office is to educate consumers about protecting their private information from identity theft.

"It's frustrating when they do all the right steps, and then businesses or some other organizations act carelessly with their personal and protected information," he said.

Law mandating precautions to soon include gov't agencies

Under Maryland law, businesses are required to take certain precautions in handling and destroying records or face thousands of dollars in civil penalties. The I-Team discovered that state and local government agencies are exempt, but that changes for many of them in July 2014.

"These kinds of laws have to be put in place because people's personal information is being breached all over the world, and it's creating havoc in people's lives," said state Sen. Catharine Pugh, D-Baltimore City.

City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's said she was disappointed at the way the files were handled.

"It's unacceptable. We are entrusted with the personal information of our employees, and it's our responsibility to protect it. I've asked (Public Works) Director Alfred Foxx to fully investigate and make sure something like this never happens again. It should have never happened," she said.

When asked, Foxx said apparently the box was put out for trash when workers were cleaning out the training office.

"It should not have been put out there," he said. "We will take corrective action. Obviously, something happened. We need to find out how that happened."

The I-Team gave the box back to the city and watched as a worker wheeled it away. Foxx thanked Simms for returning it.

The I-Team was told the city's human resources and law departments would handle the case from there, saving the information that needs to be saved and shredding the rest. But Deinlein said he's still worried.

"I'm going to contact all the credit agencies and put an alert on my credit and on my ID so someone doesn't try to steal my identity," he said.

While the new law is supposed to tighten the handling of personal information by state and local government agencies, the legislative and judicial branches are not included. Pugh said she plans to introduce a new bill that covers them and imposes fines on all government agencies for violations.